Large food service pans for cooking, serving and storing food have been used for many years in commercial food service establishments. These pans can be used in food servers, such as steam tables, buffet tables, chill tables, salad bars, and the like, as well as used as chafing dishes in chafers. In these applications, the food service pans can contain multiple portions of food, allowing it to be served one portion at a time. These pans may be used to cook and heat food, for the storage of food, and/or as transfer pans to carry large portions of food to and from a serving area. Conventional metal (e.g., stainless steel) food service pans can include a variety of shapes, including rectangular and circular shaped pans having an open top. A flange typically extends around the circumference of the open pan top to hold the pan in the steam or buffet table, to provide a steam seal around a steam table, and/or to offer a convenient lifting and carrying point. When used in a steam table, buffet table, salad bar, or the like, the pan body (e.g., the food receptacle portion) and flange are typically dimensioned so that the receptacle is received into an opening in the table or bar and is supported by its flange resting upon the edges of the table or bar opening.
Liners may be provided for these pans to keep food separate from the metal surfaces of the pan thereby improving food safety and quality, enhancing flavor and juiciness of foods, minimizing clean up time and resource consumption, and reducing shrinkage by allowing left over food to be removed from the pan and saved for further use. Pan liners are typically used in food preparation (cooking) and holding to prevent food from “baking-on” and “burning-on” to the pan surface.
Various types of flexible sheets, films, and liners have been devised in the past for preparing, cooking, and/or storing foods therein or in pans, trays, or the like provided with liners made from such sheets. For example, paper sheets of cellulosic fibers have been used, as well as various types of thermoplastic and thermosetting films. Moreover, thin metal foils, so-called tin foils, which are in reality thin sheets of aluminum, are extensively used for cooking, heating, and storing foods.
Various difficulties have arisen through the use of such sheets, films, and liners made therefrom. For example, metal foils are notoriously easy to crack and break, so that foods wrapped therein frequently are not fully protected by the foil. Such sheet liners and foil are not easy to wrap closely around irregularly shaped pans and the like, and are also easily damaged by serving utensils that may scrap along the surface of the liner. In addition, sheets or liners made form metallic materials are generally relatively expensive as compared to other types of liner materials.
While paper sheets are useful for a variety of culinary purposes, their moisture and air transmissibility allow rapid spoilage of food contained therein as well as soiling of the pan surface. In addition, paper liners are typically not suited for high temperature cooking applications and also tear easily.
Thermoplastic films with slightly greater durability, such as polyethylene films and the like, are used for preparing, cooking, and storing foods. However, a problem with conventional pan liners is that they typically do not conform to the shape and contour of the pan or food receptacle that they are use with. Flat sheet liners and also conventional bag-shaped liners do not always adequately cover the food holding surface of the pan interior. This can result in soiling of the pan thereby requiring time-consuming, difficult, and expensive cleaning of the pan, thus defeating the purpose behind using a pan liner in the first place. Also, conventional liners that are not properly fitted to the pan can fall back into the pan and the food contained therein. These problems are especially true for sheet type plastic liners that have a substantially flat planar construction.
The most common bag-shaped liners have a substantially tubule shaped body sealed at a bottom end and open at an opposite top end. These liners are generally formed having substantially right angled corners formed where the side walls of the liner connect with the bottom end. Typically, a liner is disposed within the receptacle of the pan to line and cover an interior surface of the receptacle and the top portion of the liner is folded over the top edge and flange of the pan such that the excess liner material skirts the flange and exterior surface of the receptacle.
A problem with conventional pan liners having a bag-like shape is that they typically include “dog ears, ears, or tails” that are formed during the construction of the liner. These “dog ears” are pockets that are formed in the corners of the liner at the closed bottom end. The corners of conventional liners (e.g., where the bottom edge meets the side walls) are typically formed at right angles. “Dog ears” are problematic in that food can become trapped in this area of the liner leading to waste of the food caught in this area and also jeopardizing the quality and safety of the food. In addition, serving utensils can become caught on the “dog ear” which may disturb or tear the liner.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved food service pan liner, and method for making the improved pan liner. In particular, there is a need for a simple, flexible, replaceable, and durable pan liner having non-stick and high temperature attributes, that conform to the shape, size, and contour of the pan and food receptacle and that does not include the problematic “dog ears” found in conventional bag liners.